Posts Tagged ‘break in’

A Taunton man was arraigned Monday after he and another man allegedly broke into an elderly woman’s home and stole her copper piping, causing her basement to flood, police said.

Roger Longmire, 29, pleaded not guilty in Taunton District Court to charges of breaking and entering daytime for felony, two counts of malicious destruction of property, larceny under $250 by false pretense, and receiving stolen property under $200.

The victim, an unidentified 81-year-old woman on Hopewell Street in Taunton, reported on May 10 that she could not heat her home, and when she went to the basement she discovered it was flooded, a Taunton police report said. She called her son, and they then called police.

An officer discovered the basement door kicked in and about 100 feet of copper piping was missing, along with a metal water overflow tank, the report said. When the piping was removed, the water flooded the basement.

Police said a second man was involved in the break-in, but he has not yet been charged.

The two later sold the stolen parts to Enos Metals in Taunton, the report said.

Both men denied the theft of the pipes and tank, saying they were on the lookout when the other broke into the home.

Longmire was ordered held on $7,500 cash bail and is scheduled to return to Taunton District Court on June 13 for a pretrial, a spokesman for the Bristol district attorney’s office said.

An attempted burglary at an 86-year-old Lawrence woman’s home that led to a suspect being arrested may be linked to four other recent burglaries in the area, officials said.

The suspect, Jorge Fuentes, 32 of Lawrence, is to be arraigned today in Lawrence District Court on charges of burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon. He also faces charges from a previous larceny case. Lawrence Police Chief John Romero said.

Fuentes had visited the woman’s home a week earlier, asking if she had cable TV.

“The first encounter struck her as a bit odd,” Romero said.

When Fuentes returned Friday morning, the woman didn’t open the door. She called police, ran to the kitchen and grabbed a broom. Fuentes didn’t know the woman was home, Romero said, and made his way to the back of the home and attempted to gain entry through a bedroom window.

“On the phone, we could actually hear him breaking the glass of the back window,” he said.

Police were able to respond before Fuentes entered the home, and the woman was able to avoid visual contact with him.

“She was very shaken up,” Romero said. “I mean, she was terrified, but she was able to report accurate information.”

Romero said police were continuing to investigate to see whether Fuentes was linked to the other cases.

A 13-year-old girl was praised by police after she hid under her bed as a man broke into and ransacked her Billerica home at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

The girl sent a text message to her father, said Detective Sergeant Roy Frost, and then called the police as she hid under her bed while the unidentified man stole three laptops, a large amount of change estimated at about $500, an iPod, and possibly some jewelry.

“The little girl did a fantastic job staying calm and calling us, letting us know what was going on,” said Frost. “We had direct communication with her.”

The man had gained entry by kicking the side door of the two-story home off its hinges, and by the time they responded, the suspect had fled, police said. The intruder never knew the girl, who was not injured, was under the bed, police believe.

The intruder was described by police as a man in his late 20s to early 30s with facial hair. At the time of the break-in, he was wearing a blue winter hat with red and white stripes. He is also believed to have been wearing boots, police said.